The Final Perseverance of the Saints: Exposition of Chapter 8:17-39

Romans #8

by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Dr. Lloyd-Jones says, Little needs to be said by way of introduction to this volume. The verses considered in it are generally agreed to be one of the sublimest portions of scripture. In it the Apostle brings his argument concerning assurance of salvation to a grand climax. The way in which he advances surely from argument to argument, piling one upon another, is astonishing, and constitutes the supreme example of inspired logic. In doing so he brings us face to face with the fundamental theme of the Bible - God's plan and purpose of redemption conceived before time and the foundation of the world, and spanning the whole of human history from the original creation to the final glory.

Genres: Christian, Biblical Studies, New Testament, Theology

457 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1975

About the author

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones was a Welsh Protestant minister, preacher and medical doctor who was influential in the Reformed wing of the British evangelical movement in the 20th century. For almost 30 years, he was the minister of Westminster Chapel in London. Lloyd-Jones was strongly opposed to Liberal Christianity, which had become a part of many Christian denominations; he regarded it as aberrant. He disagreed with the broad church approach and encouraged evangelical Christians (particularly Anglicans) to leave their existing denominations. He believed that true Christian fellowship was possible only amongst those who shared common convictions regarding the nature of the faith.

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones was married to Bethan Lloyd-Jones

Books about D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: https://www.goodreads.com/characters/...

Reviews

[Johnny · Rating 3 out of 5]

With some commentaries, I find myself zeroing in on the few verses with which I am dealing at the time. With D, Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ work on Romans stretched over several volumes of sermons preached over a period of years, that methodology doesn’t work very well. Romans: The Final Perseverance of the Saints: Exposition of Chapters 8:17-39, that methodology is even less practical. In the first 94 pages, he preaches multiple sermons with overlapping texts from 8:18-23. Hence, this is more of a book to be read straight-through than a reference book. In all fairness, though, I read the book alongside my preparation for a series of sermons on Romans, so it was over a period of roughly a month and a half.

Readers of this review should also be aware that I don’t agree with Lloyd-Jones on everything. There are times that what he perceives as logic could be argued as circular logic where he had already decided upon his conclusion before he explored it, where words like “obvious” don’t always mean what he thinks they mean. For example, on pp. 110-111, he rants against the New English Bible translation of Romans 8:24 [It reads: “But if we hope for something we do not see, then in waiting for it, we show our endurance.”] and suggests that said translation emphasizes our wonderful endurance. Yet, the emphasis is on waiting for God’s glory [the “it”] just as much as in Lloyd-Jones’ suggested translation: “If we hope for that we do not see, then, through patience, we eagerly wait for it.” (p. 111) Apparently, he thinks that putting the pronoun last increases the emphasis, but the emphasis is exactly the same because he sees it happening through [or by means of] patience while NEB emphasizes “waiting for it.” Lloyd-Jones’ own translation is more about our “wonderful” patience than the NEB reading of “waiting” for something external to happen.

Yet, I find myself still benefiting from these messages and nodding in general agreement with his major points, at least when he doesn’t oversimplify before going a bridge too far. One egregious example of going too far occurs on pages 234-239 where Lloyd-Jones doesn’t believe it is sufficient to understand foreknowledge and predestination as God creating the opportunity and environment for a believer to choose and opting for that “instance” of reality/creation above all others, but God must have arbitrarily made that decision. Though he later states that he does not believe in “double-predestination,” both his argument and his citation from 1 Peter 2:7-8 without heeding the human agency involved provide a refutation of his own position (p. 267). He holds tenuously to an interpretation in the earlier argument and ignores the implication in the later one.

Another problem I have with Lloyd-Jones is that he tends to think that the more dogmatic he can take a stand, the more spiritual it is. I’m not entirely in agreement with his sentiment when he writes, “It is always good to believe in something that the unbeliever rejets with scorn!” (p. 364) Perhaps, this is correct sometimes, but it isn’t particularly helpful in terms of witnessing to unbelievers. And is it inconsistent (or is it just my prejudice) when Lloyd-Jones insists that the reader/hearer believe in God’s Providence/omnipotence and then writes a phrase like: “…as God has already given his Son to death for us, He cannot refuse to do for us anything else that is necessary.” (p. 382) It is the word “cannot” which horrifies me. Dr. Fred L. Fisher used to correct us, telling us that it isn’t that God can’t; it’s that God won’t. There are things which we are certain that God won’t do because they are inconsistent with God’s nature if He did. However, phrases which suggest that God cannot take the volition out of the realm of God’s power. Neither Dr. Lloyd-Jones, Dr. Fisher, nor ye olde Dr. Wilson believe that God will deprive the believer of anything necessary, but the latter two are unwilling to suggest that God is less than God—even in theory.

On the other hand, Lloyd-Jones does a marvelous job of building on the last section of Romans 8 (vv. 28-39) to establish a solid case for what is often called “the final perseverance of the saints” and what I grew up calling “security of the believer.” He points out the theological dangers of trying to compartmentalize the elements of personal salvation and relationship (p. 255). Then, he divides the difficult passages that have been used in an attempt to refute the perseverance of the saints into three categories: 1) those which seem to teach “falling from grace” (pp. 271-273), 2) those which seem to teach an “uncertain” salvation dependent upon individuals rather than God (pp. 273-274), and 3) “warning” passages (pp. 274-275). The answers to interpreting these passages against security of the believer tend to overlap, mostly culminating in the Truth that salvation depends upon God.

Lest one think that I read this volume just looking for things to pick at, let me share a few of my favorite ideas. I really liked his personal confession: “The more I study the Bible the more I discover what Thomas Carlyle called ‘infinities and immensities.’” (p. 277) I really responded well to his illustration of the idea of “remnant” from Isaiah 1:9 where the prophet says that the Lord left Israel a “seed” or all of Israel would have perished like Sodom and Gomorrah. He uses that to say, “It is the Lord of hosts who preserves the remnant. The remnant does not preserve itself. … Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” (p. 353) And finally, I loved his citation of Charles Hodge near the end of the book (p. 435) which underscored his own observation about the work of Christ seated at the Father’s right hand: “Notice that in each case His work is defined in connection with, and in terms of, our salvation. His work there is mediatorial.” (p. 432)

So, lest one think my concern about overstatements and inconsistent statements are recommendations to stay away from this important series on Romans, please think again. Even though I may pick some bones from various overstatements, Romans: The Final Perseverance of the Saints: Exposition of Chapters 8:17-39 has more meat than bones.

[Scott Head · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second time through. Exceptional. Best commentary series on Romans of all time.

[Luke]

In the middle of the book, I came across this, in reference to Romans 8:28-30: "Are you surprised at yourself? Are you surprised at the fact that you are reading these words, that you can enjoy them, and do not find them extremely boring? Whether you are or are not a church member, if the truth of the gospel does not ravish your heart, if you do not feel that it is the most glorious thing you have ever heard, you have never been called. 'The called' are the people who desire more and more of this; they cannot help themselves; they are 'newborn babes' and they desire 'the sincere milk of the word that they may grow thereby.'"

I remember right after I graduated from a Christian college that I felt pretty burnt out of Christianity, and remember going to a friend's house and seeing a few tapes of a sermon series that her dad had checked out from their church library and was listening to in the car, and thinking something like, "I wonder if I'll ever be interested in this enough to listen to a sermon, outside of church." Fast forward ten years, and I find myself voluntarily reading a 450 page exposition of 22 verses of scripture, and enjoying it. In so many ways, it's the only thing I find interesting anymore. Thinking back to that moment, I can't attribute my interest to it now to anything but God's grace. This is one part of a 14 volume, 5,000 page exposition Lloyd-Jones did on Romans, and I'm all in.

[Joshua Schwisow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful, stunning, encouraging, comforting. Here Dr. Lloyd-Jones unpacks some of the most sublime verses in all of Holy Scripture

[Aaron Irlbacher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lloyd-Jones is the best.

[Leopold Odah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best of all the Romans series

[Glenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This deserves 10 Stars. Every serious Christian should read this and allow God’s Word to lift them to the heights that He has for them.

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every time I read the good Doctor, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, I am summarily blessed. Not only do I become a better student of God’s Word, but my faith is deepened each time. An unintended consequence, also, is that I become a better writer, as a result. His arguments are so comprehensive, that he aids my own argumentation when I write. I have had the pleasure of reading several volumes of his Romans commentary. If you were to read only one, I would suggest this second volume of chapter 8 on the Perseverance of the Saints.